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Greg Skrepenak talks politics, life and making a positive contribution

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Rowdy Tellez too much as SWB RailRiders fall in opener

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta this week repeated his calls for a long-term transportation infrastructure bill, arguing that private industry and local governments need a reliable funding source to plan projects and hire workers.</p><p>Barletta, R-Hazleton, made that case during a hearing held by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee&#8217;s Subcommittee on Highways and Transit examining the implementation of the Fixing America&#8217;s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act.</p><p>&#8220;As most of my colleagues know, I grew up working in the road construction business,&#8221; Barletta said. &#8220;That experience showed me how difficult it can be for state and local governments to move forward with projects when they are uncertain about future federal transportation spending. And that uncertainty trickles down to private industry &#8212; my family would not hire more workers or purchase more equipment without knowing what the future might hold.&#8221;</p><p>The hearing featured representatives of the American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials, the American Public Transportation Association, and the U.S. Conference of Mayors, who Barletta said agreed with him that short-term transportation infrastructure funding impedes the ability of small businesses and local governments to plan and complete projects.</p><p>Barletta has long made the case for a sustainable funding source for transportation infrastructure projects, arguing that he believes taxpayers will support a user fee to pay for improvements to roads and bridges as long as they know where the money will be spent. According to an emailed news release, Barletta said he maintains that money spent on transportation infrastructure projects goes directly into local economies and helps to create jobs.</p><p>&#8220;We need to find a sustainable funding source for infrastructure,&#8221; Barletta said. &#8220;We can&#8217;t keep pulling these rabbits out of our hats in Washington. We need a sustainable revenue stream. I support a user fee as one way we can do that.&#8221;</p><p>Barletta was a member of the conference committee that worked to finalize the FAST Act, a five-year, $305 billion transportation infrastructure funding bill passed in December 2015. While Barletta applauded the legislation as a good step in the right direction, he expressed disappointment that the bill was a missed opportunity to develop serious reforms in transportation funding.</p><p><strong>Pa. schools get</strong></p><p><strong>toolkit for dealing</strong></p><p><strong>with race incidents</strong></p><p>Gov. Tom Wolf this week announced that the state Department of Education has released a new resource to help Pennsylvania schools prevent and respond to racially charged and bias-related incidents in their communities.</p><p>&#8220;To perform their best, students must feel safe in school,&#8221; Wolf said in an emailed news release. &#8220;A healthy and safe environment can help our students thrive, and every student regardless of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or gender identity or expression should be provided the opportunity to learn free from discrimination, fear or harassment.&#8221;</p><p>The Equity and Inclusion Toolkit is one of a series of resources PDE began providing to the commonwealth&#8217;s schools following high-visibility incidents in several schools after November&#8217;s election. When those incidents occurred, the administration acted quickly to condemn them as acts of bigotry and intolerance, and released a 60-second public service announcement to share a message of diversity and inclusion.</p><p>Education Secretary Pedro Rivera said the toolkit will advance existing efforts at the state and local levels to create and maintain supportive settings that celebrate diversity and teach students the importance of respect for self and others. He said the resource was developed in collaboration with other state agencies, organizations and partners, and it focuses on strategies and actions that schools can take to address bias and discrimination in a proactive and effective manner.</p><p>PDE&#8217;s Office of Safe Schools has partnered with agencies like the Human Relations Commission, the Center for Schools and Communities, intermediate units, and others to bolster efforts to ensure schools have resources to foster a positive culture and climate, and to respond to incidents of hate.</p><p>Safe Schools established a hotline for districts to report bias-related incidents to streamline the collection of information about an incident and connect a district with services and supports more quickly. PDE also provided resources, including a crisis plan template and curriculum guides, available online to educators.</p><p><ins>Safe Schools also provides resources on issues from combating dating violence to preventing suicide, and in 2016 introduced a toll-free bullying prevention consultation line (1-866-716-0424), which is available to students, parents/guardians, and educators.</ins></p><p><strong>Public Health Week</strong></p><p><strong>highlights </strong><strong>improving</strong></p><p><strong>health in rural Pa.</strong></p><p>Secretary of Health Dr. Karen Murphy and Penn State Hershey Stroke Center Co-Director Dr. Ray Reichwein this week recognized National Public Health Week by demonstrating a simulated telehealth appointment in the Capitol.</p><p>&#8220;Public health is all about what we do together as a society to ensure that everyone &#8211; regardless of where they live &#8211; has access to quality health care,&#8221; Murphy said in an emailed news release. &#8220;Telehealth is a program on the frontier of innovation that can bring desperately needed access to care to the more than 3.5 million Pennsylvanians living in rural areas. It&#8217;s fitting that we demonstrate this innovative technology during Public Health Week.&#8221;</p><p>Telehealth is defined as a collection of methods for enhancing health care, public health, and health education delivery and support using telecommunications technologies. Telehealth encompasses a broad variety of technologies to deliver virtual medical, health and education services.</p><p>During the event, Reichwein used the Penn State Hershey Stroke Center&#8217;s telemedicine technology to call a simulated patient and conduct a virtual check-up for post-stroke care. The check-up included several components that, until recently, were impossible without a physical office visit, such as reviewing a patient&#8217;s brain scan.</p><p>Telehealth allows doctors to reach patients no matter where they live. This is especially important for specialists like Reichwein, who may be in limited supply in rural areas. Pennsylvania has the third-highest rural population in the United States, according to the Center for Rural Pennsylvania. Almost half of Pennsylvania&#8217;s doctors practice in only three counties &#8211; Philadelphia, Montgomery, and Allegheny &#8211; even though the remaining 64 counties contain almost 75 percent of the commonwealth&#8217;s population.</p><p>National Public Health Week 2017 is organized by the American Public Health Foundation with the goal of creating the healthiest nation in one generation. National Public Health Week celebrates the power of prevention, advocates for healthy and fair policies, shares strategies for successful partnerships, and champions the role of a strong public health system.</p><p>For more information about health innovation in Pennsylvania, visit <a href="http://www.health.pa.gov" target="_blank">www.health.pa.gov</a> or follow the department on Facebook and Twitter.</p><style>
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<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/web1_Barletta-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Barletta </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/web1_Barletta-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Barletta </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/web1_Wolf_Tom-cmyk-2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Wolf </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/web1_Wolf_Tom-cmyk-2.jpg</photo1><caption1>Wolf </caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/web1_Rivera-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Rivera </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/web1_Rivera-1.jpg</photo2><caption2>Rivera </caption2><photoCredit2></photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/web1_Sec-Karen-Murphy-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Murphy </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/web1_Sec-Karen-Murphy-1.jpg</photo3><caption3>Murphy </caption3><photoCredit3></photoCredit3></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/web1_PA-capitol-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption"><ins>The Pennsylvania Capitol in Harrisburg.</ins> </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo4>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/web1_PA-capitol-1.jpg</photo4><caption4><ins>The Pennsylvania Capitol in Harrisburg.</ins> </caption4><photoCredit4></photoCredit4></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Bill O&#8217;Boyle</p><p>boboyle@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Bill O&#8217;Boyle at 570-991-6118 or on Twitter @TLBillOBoyle.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Capitol Roundup: Barletta pushes infrastructure investment